As Barbara made no reply, Eleanor followed the direction of her stare. A group of dreadful looking miners and a crowd of wild-looking cow-punchers were using seven expensive wardrobe trunks for their pleasure. Evidently the men had indulged in too many tests of Oak Creek whiskey, called "Pizen" by the natives. The cow-boys were picturesque enough in their wide sombreros, woolly chaps, gay shirts, and a swagger that matched their trick of shooting. The miners were swarthy, bearded foreigners, who wore long boots, loose shirts, and belts from which ugly-looking six-shooters protruded. As Eleanor decided to go over to the circle surrounding the trunks, and demand an explanation she heard a hardened miner shout: "It's my deal next!" Then the sisters saw that their largest trunk had been turned over on its side to make a convenient card-table. The others accommodated the players and loungers whose spurred heels beat a tattoo upon the polished grain-leather covers. "Humph! At least we can display original etchings on our trunks when we get them back home," remarked Eleanor, with a gleam of amusement at the affair. "Everything will simply be ruined! Just see that trunk holding my evening-dresses--right by that horse-trough. Do make those awful creatures go away, won't you, Nolla?" begged Barbara. "With those nasty guns sticking from their belts--not me! But I'll go to the office and complain to the baggage-master." So Eleanor courageously turned her back on the fascinating sight of all those revolvers, and Barbara followed closely at her sister's heels; both of them hurried to the old car that displayed a sign saying it was the baggage-room. No one was there, so the girls stood at the door, whence the road leading to the railway could be seen. "If only we knew when the chauffeur would come!" sighed Barbara, but now Eleanor had misgivings about an automobile. Meantime the men had seen the two strangers hovering about but they were not aware that the trunks belonged to the new-comers. When the girls entered the "station" one old rascal leaned over and said: "Them are tenderfeet an' we-all oughter welcome 'em in th' good old-fashioned custom." "Sure thing!" cried the others, and they quickly planned. Eleanor decided it was time to dispossess these ruffians from her property, so she assumed an air of courage and started for the group, while Barbara held firmly to her sister's sleeve. But an unexpected denouement halted the two girls. "Ah say you cheated that deal!" howled a miner, at the same time he slapped his leather gauntlet across a cow-boy's face. Instantly every revolver was whipped forth and a terrible fight ensued, every man taking part in the general melee. The girls, trembling with fear as shots and curses rang out profusely, clung to each other helplessly, but failed to note that the guns were aimed skyward. "Hey, boys--what the deuce do you-all mean?" shouted a fine-looking man coming upon the scene unannounced.